A few days ago, when I announced “Blog Fest ‘09″ I wrote the following about today’s guest:

Besides being a terrific friend, Ralph Romaguera Sr. has been one of the leaders in the school market for many years.  Losing big time following the wrath of Katrina, he and his sons have worked hard to rebuild their New Orleans based business.   He’s a terrific photographer, but that’s not his biggest asset…it’s his involvement in the photographic community, his support of his friends and most important of all, even in the wake of Katrina, he never lost hope or the belief in the importance of rebuilding New Orleans and his community.

I left out a couple of important facts about Ralph…first, he’s an outstanding photographer and teaches throughout the country.  We spent a week on the road years ago with Hasselblad University and he walks the talk! Second, saying Ralph is “involved in the community” is an understatement.  He’s an active member of the Board of Directors for PPA and both he and his wife Cindy are involved in support to the local and state affiliate and their community, constantly giving up their own time to give something back.

Dr._Edward_Helm

A few years back, Terry Deglau was in charge of the Kodak mentors.  At one of  our meetings, almost twenty years ago, Michael Taylor showed the group a series of portraits he titled the “People with Passion for Pasadena.”  They were very impressive executive portraits of important folks from his area that Michael volunteered to create.

 Terry then suggested to the group to go back to our communities and find an organization to be active with.  At the suggestion of a friend, I got involved with the “Young Leadership Council.”  The YLC is an organization that does a lot of community service in the Greater New Orleans area.

 Each year, the YLC honors 25 role models from the Greater New Orleans area. The role models are from many different walks of life.  Some are bankers, lawyers, artists, contractors, musicians, entrepreneurs and philanthropists.   My privilege is to make a portrait of each one of them for a display mainly for there “black tie” dinner (1000 guests).  The display now travels from the gala to banks and hospitals through out the year.

 The organization sets up the appointments – Cindy, my wife, confirms the appointments and we usually get it done in three days!

 The equipment I use is usually the latest Canon camera with a 24 mm lens, one Quantum light on a stand and sometimes a tripod.  It usually takes me no longer than 10 minutes and I shoot about 6-10 shots – I pick out the image and the first time they see it is in the display.

 I learned executive portraits from one of the greatest teachers, Al Gilbert of Canada.  He taught me to keep the subject in the center of the wide angle lens and include the subject’s environment.

 Over the past 15 years, I have made the acquaintance of over 300 important folks that probably would have never made it through my doors.  Many have become clients – though the real purpose was just to give back.

Looking for additional help from Ralph on how to strengthen your photography business or skill set?  Contact him directly at roch@romaguera.com.